My first proper Book Fold

The first proper book fold I've done. I've just come back from Malta where I went for my friends daughters wedding. Before I went I thought I would take something to do if I had any spare time. I was thinking this because I get up early and I knew none of their family did and there is only so much breakfast you can eat! So I took the pattern, a paper ruler, bit of ribbon, pencil and rubber then " borrowed" a hardback book from the left-behind-bookshelf and did this sitting on my balcony the day before the wedding. I was really pleased with it as I was convinced I had done it upside down until I started folding the pages and the word appeared like magic!

Thanks to Jo Black at Allinthefolds  for the free pattern.

Amazing Rainbow

This was Norway last year,the most amazing sight I have ever seen. Apparently it is down to ice crystals in the air but I thought the town was going to catch fire!

My Daughters Birthday cake this year

A very easy cake. Chocolate cake base then butter cream mixed with Nutella spread all over. Push Cadbury's fingers or kit-kats into the sides. Then just place the buttons into the butter cream in the shape of the flowers in a random pattern.

Jelly Worms

 Ideal for Hallow'een.

You need;
A packet of jelly, the hard block type, seems to work better than the crystals. Kosher jelly comes in wonderful flavours and colours but turns back to water overnight.
Straws, thick ones work best, save McDonalds ones if you can't get any. If you use the ones with the concertina bendy bit pull them out to their full length as it gives the 'saddle' on the worm.
A tall glass such as a pint glass as your worms will be the length of your glass.
Cooking spray, Lurpack is a good one.

Make the jelly up to the packet instructions but just to three quarters of a pint or 425ml.
Holding the straws as a bunch in your hand spray the oil straight down the straws, turn them around and spray up the other end. Shake them a bit or tap them on the bench to get the oil distributed.

Pack the straws into your pint glass, the longer the glass, the longer the worm. Pour the jelly over the top down all the straws. Then leave it in the 'fridge to set.

The next bit is a bit messy as all the excess jelly is surrounding the straws and your hands get sticky and slippery. Just keep washing the jelly off your hands so you still have a good grip.
Pull one straw out of the glass and grip the top of the straw in your right hand (assuming you're right handed). Then grip the straw with your left finger and thumb and squeeze the straw while pushing down. The worm should come out easily.

And that's it, a plate full of jelly worms.

The 'saddle' on the worm from the bendy straw.

I'm going to start my blog up again, after an absence of two years or so. As usual, life gets in the way but I can but try. So for my first new post I've done a short tutorial for jelly worms. Something topical with Hallow'een coming up and I know a lot of people have come unstuck (literally!) with this one.

Three Cheese Italian Rigatoni Pie

Three Cheese Italian Rigatoni Pie

Ingredients
1 pound Rigatoni
1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce (approximately 2.5 cups, give or take. If it's slightly more or less, just use it all)
½ cup of water
2 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 pound ground beef or ground pork
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1 container cottage cheese (or ricotta cheese)
1 large egg
1-1/2 to 2 cups mozzarella cheese

Instructions
Cook the Rigatoni in a large pot of salted, boiling water. Make sure you use enough water because the rigatoni sucks up a lot. Cook it about 1 minute less than the package directions so it is still hard enough to stand up. Drain the pasta and rinse under cold water.

Toss pasta with 1 Tablespoon of oil to prevent it from sticking. Then add the Parmesan cheese and toss until the cheese is evenly distributed. Set aside.
In a large frying pan, brown the ground beef in 1 Tablespoon of oil. Drain away the fat once it's cooked.

Add the jar of pasta sauce and water and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat. Cover and simmer for at least 20 minutes. The longer you simmer the better. Just make sure you add more water if it all boils off.

Remove from heat and let it cool for 10 minutes.

Mix together the container of cottage cheese and the egg. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Grease a 9 inch spring form pan.
Take the cooked rigatoni and stand each piece up on its end in the pan. Continue until the whole pan is tightly packed.

Pour the cottage cheese mixture over the rigatoni and spread evenly over all the noodles.

Pour the meat mixture over top and spread evenly over the noodles. Use your finger to poke the meat and cheese mixture down into the noodles. The more patience you have with this step, the better it will be.

Bake for 15 minutes at 400F.

Remove from the oven and top with the mozzarella cheese.
Bake for another 15 minutes at 400F.

Let stand for 10 minutes then run a knife around the edge of the pan to help remove the spring form pan.

Minion Card

 

My Daughter asked me to make a 21st birthday card for a friend "She likes French Bulldogs, Pugs and Minions" Hmm... No problem there then. I found an invitation with a Minion on it ( a minion is a character in the film Despicable Me) on the web which I used to work out how to make this card. (Maddy's Invitations)

You need a sheet of A4 240gsm black card folded in half.
Cut a sheet of bright yellow card slightly smaller than the front of the card and stick down.
Cut two 2 inch circles in grey, two 1.5 inch white circles, two 1 inch brown circles and two half inch black circles. These make up the eyes.
Cut and stick a half inch strip of black card or paper and stick it across the front as above about a quater of the way down the face then stick the eyes on top of this. I used sticky pads for this bit so the eyes are slightly proud of the card.
Cut a 2 inch circle for the mouth, Cut it in half then cut a semi circle out leaving the shape of the mouth as above. Note that the mouth is narrower at the left hand side than on the right. Cut across the edges, straight on the left side and at an angle on the right.
Cut a rectangle 3 and a half inches by two and a half inch strip for the dungarees and straps and stick down as in the picture.
The pocket is a 2 inch circle with the top cut off and inked in brown around the edges.
The logo is a black 1 inch circle with a blue square cut to fit. Punch a hole through the middle with an ordinary paper punch then, with the square standing on it's corner, cut the right hand corner out and stick a tiny sliver of blue on to it to make the horizontal stroke of the G.
I finished with four strips of black for the hair and two black gems for buttons. A small 21 is mounted at the bottom but obviously any sentiment can be put here.
I texted her the picture and she replied "That's amazing!!!" So that will do for me!